The Problem Rewritten
by Akuma Sumizome
Summary: Katara is forced to face the harsh reality of what it's like to be the Avatar's Girlfriend. one-shot that I may continue eventually


**The Problem**

**No idea where this came from but it wouldn't leave my brain until I wrote it so here ya go. Disclaimer: I don't own Avatar but if I did I'd make a sequel...and yes, I know of The Legend Of Korra before you start telling me about it. I meant a sequel with the original characters**

**Oh btw I've been playing video games for awhile and they do in fact rot your brain cuz I've realized that my writing skills have been declining greatly...soooo if I word something funny or use the wrong punctuation heh my bad ^^'**

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><p>Katara was so tired of this.<p>

She was so tired of the war meetings, pointless discussions, traveling to solve problems that could have easily been resolved on their own, and sex.

She had been traveling with Aang for two years and there was still so much to do. She knew that recovering from a century old war wouldn't be a walk in the park but she certainly hadn't expected it to be a turtle-sloth pace through a dense forest that went on for miles with the exit nowhere in sight. Two years have gone by and still there was almost no progress because of all the arguments between the fire nation council and the earth kingdom council. Even with Zuko and Aang doing their best to keep peace they still couldn't prevent the arguments caused by hurt feelings.

Katara remembered Aang telling her about one meeting where a General of the Earth Kingdom (she couldn't remember his name) proposed that the whole Fire Nation army be disbanded because it would make the earth kingdom more comfortable negotiating with the Fire Nation. Of course that started a very heated argument between the two and had left Aang mentally exhausted. What's worse is the argument lasted for three days. She had been afraid that Aang would go into the Avatar State at some point and scare the generals into dismissing the subject after one night where he shouted at her. Then when he realized exactly who he was yelling at his mood changed from angry to apologizing profusely.

Though, now that she thought about it, he never did tell her exactly how the argument had been dismissed...

She hadn't even been to see her home in six months because she's been stuck here at the Firelord's palace while Zuko and Aang dealt with the situation of the rising number of rebellions uncomfortably close to the Fire Nation capital.

Another thing Katara was tired of was how her and Aang's relationship was going. They had recently took their relationship to the next level and unfortunately that _was _their relationship at the moment. Aang would come back from all-day meetings and they would either sit and talk for a few minutes before he would collapse from exhaustion or they would share an intimate moment then fall asleep. They hadn't actually had sex yet, it was basically less than innocent touches like they used to share when they were younger.

What Katara hadn't told Aang was that she was faking whenever they were intimate. He hadn't brought her to the edge for weeks but she would never tell him that, he was exhausted as it was and she knew he'd feel guilty if he knew that his exhaustion was preventing him from satisfying her. It wasn't his fault really, but he wouldn't see it that way.

She was sick and tired of all this getting in the way of their love life. She had known this might have happened but Aang, being who he was, made her think it was impossible. But of course it was very possible and she hated that her love for her boyfriend was starting to waver. They didn't spend time like they used to, didn't talk like they used to, and they never practiced waterbending anymore. She had yet to see Aang practice any bending at all since they came here.

Katara tried to tell Aang about this plenty of times but she either chickened out or she didn't want to disturb Aang when he was already asleep on his feet. He also had enough to deal with, he didn't need another thing to worry about. It would only get in the way of what was really important: restoring peace to the world. But she couldn't take it anymore. Her heart hurt every time Aang gave her that beautiful grin that used to melt her heart, how each one of his kiss's brought an uncomfortable feeling instead of the intense, knee-weakening feeling it used to. His silver-gray eyes used to make her smile and blush but now she had to force a smile and it only made her feel awkward and nervous.

She was glad that Aang was too tired to notice how out of character she was. The Katara he fell in love with was nowhere to be found and she felt horrible that she was no longer who Aang still thought she was. She wished she was but she wasn't sure if she could ever be the way she used to with all of his Avatar duties coming between them. The only thing she could do was try and wait it out and hope her heart wouldn't break before all of this ended.

Unfortunately for her, Aang would come back today in high spirits and more perceptive than she had predicted.

**OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO**

Katara had just gotten done with her bath when Aang suddenly swung open the door to the room they shared and strolled in.

"Hey Katara I'm-" He stood frozen in the doorway with his eyes trained on his girlfriend. He knew his eyes must have been the size of dinner plates as he looked at his dark skinned beauty wrapped only in a towel and staring back at him equally surprised. "-back early." He finished lamely.

Katara stared back at him. She normally would've laughed at the look on Aang's face but the way his eyes darkened in that all-to-familiar look of want she instead found herself blushing furiously. "H-hi Aang." She smiled nervously under his intense gaze. He started to come closer until he stood directly in front of her and grinned down at her.

"I missed you." He spoke gently while brushing a stray hair out of her eyes. The way his voice defied the look in his eyes and his sweet gesture would have normally made her melt but instead it made her uncomfortable. She smiled in response and waited for Aang to lean in and kiss her like he usually would but instead his brows furrowed and his smile disappeared. "Are you alright?" He asked and cupped her cheek in his palm.

Katara grinned at him and held his hand to her cheek. "Of course I am." Gripping her towel to make sure it would stay closed she stood on her tip-toes and pecked his lips. "Just a bit tired." She knew by the way Aang was looking at her that he didn't believe a word of it, but he wasn't going to call her on it. Not unless it really started to concern him. She turned around and made her way to her dresser and let her towel drop, grinning for real when she heard him gasp and the rustle of fabric as he spun around to face the other direction.

"Why are you back so early?" She asked while getting dressed.

Aang was trying desperately to resist turning around and watch her dressing. "One of the generals fainted and Zuko called it a day."

"Really? He just fainted?" He heard Katara ask him in a teasing tone.

He shrugged, "Okay maybe he might have been knocked out but he had it coming!" He exclaimed and heard Katara laugh from behind him.

"He must've if it was enough to make you knock him out."

Aang turned around in time to see Katara wrap a robe around herself and turn to face him. She quirked an eyebrow and he raised his hands defensively, "Like I said, he had it coming." When she crossed her arms he spoke quickly, "I just turned around I swear."

"Pervert." Katara muttered just loud enough so he would hear her.

"Hey!" Aang exclaimed, "I am not." He pouted, making Katara laugh. Grinning he came closer and wrapped his arms around her and pulled her into his chest. He thanked the spirits that he had finally gotten his growth spurt and was now taller than her but his grin disappeared when he noticed how hesitant she was in wrapping her own arms around him. She gave him a smile that he identified immediately as forced and frowned.

"Katara what's wrong?"

Katara's eyes widened for a split second before leaning into him and hiding her face from view in his chest.

"Nothing's wrong Aang."

Grasping her shoulders he pushed her away to hold her at arms length. His eyes narrowed as he took in how nervous she was acting and started to get concerned.

"Katara, I've known you long enough to know when you're lying."

Of all the reactions he could've gotten, he hadn't been expecting her to laugh.

"Right." She laughed sarcastically, "And I'm sure you've noticed a lot of things lately." She squirmed out of his grip and sat on their bed.

Aang blinked in confusion, "What are you talking about?"

Katara sighed and rubbed her temples in frustration. "I don't think I can take much more of this Aang."

The airbender's eyes widened in fear. _Please don't let her be talking about what I think she's talking about. _"What do you mean?"

She looked at him with the most miserable look in her eyes. "I don't know how long I can keep this up." She gestured to the large, furnished room they had. It was more like an apartment than a bedroom but there was no way she'd be miserable about their living quarters. "I don't know how long I can keep _us _up." She whispered.

Aang's world froze as he stared wide-eyed at her. _Did...did she really just say that? _"I...I thought you...that you...why?" He flinched at how hurt his voice sounded. He hated that voice.

Katara flinched too and refused to look at him. "Our relationship is nothing like it used to be, Aang." She was focused on her clenched hands on her lap. "I know it's selfish of me but I wish you didn't have to go to these meetings all the time. It just feels like I'm forcing myself to love you now and I don't like the way it feels. It hurts and I know I'm hurting you and I feel horrible about it but I just don't know how much more I can take."

Aang was forcing himself not to panic, but it was a hard thing to do. Katara was his world and his world was telling him that she wasn't sure if she could love him anymore. _This is Ember Island Players all over again _he thought grimly. Only this time, he was positive she wasn't lying like she did during that awful play. His world was crashing down on him and he didn't know how to fix it, all he could think about was his worst fear was coming true. He was losing Katara.

The waterbender finally looked up at the airbender to see him wide-eyed and shaking. The look of unmistakable fear and panic in his eyes was like a stake to her heart, she was really hurting him and she hated herself for it. When he collapsed against the wall with a heavy thud she was about to rush over to him when he took a shaky breath and spoke.

"What...what is it that you can't take?" Before she could respond he met her eyes and she saw how his eyes gleamed with unshed tears. "What did I do to make you stop loving me like you did? What did I do to make you _believe _I stopped loving you?" He asked, each question becoming a little more desperate than the last. Finally he asked the question that she never wanted to hear from him, "Do you even love me the way I love you?"

Katara started to cry, "I do love you Aang, but you have to understand where I'm coming from." It was her turn to sound desperate. "We aren't like we were before. We don't talk like we used to, we don't have any time to spend together anymore, I barely ever see you and when I do it's just a few sentences before you collapse or we have..." She trailed off and felt the blush spreading on her cheeks and saw his face light up as well. "I know it's not your fault but it feels like our relationship has become nothing more than that. A few words and sex." She finished and looked away from him.

"Katara..." Aang spoke. She looked up and watched as he hesitantly moved to sit beside her. "You never told me anything to make me think something was wrong. I mean, the way you act when we...well it made me think you were fine with the way things were going." When she didn't respond he froze, "Katara, I've at least been doing that right haven't I?" When she still refused to answer he buried his head in his hands with a groan. Looking at her from between his fingers he asked, "Why didn't you _say _anything?"

The waterbender started to fidget, looking anywhere but at the boy beside her when she answered.

"It wasn't your fault. The meetings exhausted you and I knew you'd act this way if I told you."

Aang looked mortified, "But Katara, we've been doing that for weeks and you haven't been," He blushed, "Satisfied once?"

Katara blushed as she answered shyly, "I was the first few times but then all of this started to happen so I never said anything so you wouldn't be even more tired and be happy at the same time."

"Oh spirits I really am a failure." Aang groaned, "As both the Avatar and a boyfriend."

Katara grabbed one of Aang's hands a pulled it away from his face so she could look him in the eye. "You are not a failure."

Aang looked her dead in the eye, "Yes I am. You are on the verge of breaking up with me because I can't keep you happy and if I was a better Avatar I'd be able to finish these meeting sooner and be able to make you and the world happy!"

She sighed and leaned into him. "I'm sorry I ever brought it up. You're doing the best you can and here I am complaining about what I know you're unable to do at the moment." She smiled reassuringly and pressed her lips to his cheek, "You are the best boyfriend in the world. I'm just being selfish. When I started our relationship I knew what to expect but I guess I didn't realize how hard it would be to handle."

The young Avatar shook his head, "The best boyfriend in the world wouldn't put the world in front of who he loves more than anything."

"But Aang it's your-"

"I know it's my duty." He sighed, "Katara if you're really unhappy being with me then just say so. You deserve someone who can give you everything you want and more." He squeezed the hand still wrapped in his own. "If the only thing keeping you here is a sense of duty to me because I love you then I want you to leave and find someone else that can make you happy and give you the world."

Katara stared at him like he had lost his mind. "Aang, you are everything I want. You are giving me the world by letting me stay by your side through everything. You _are _my world. I do love you, Aang." She shook her head and sighed. With her thumb she started drawing patterns across the back of his hand, "I'm just annoyed that these war meetings that keep dragging you away from me are about pointless little things that they could figure out on their own."

Aang smiled, "I'm annoyed because I never noticed that you were miserable with how things are going. I wish you had told me sooner." He met her eyes with that dark look in them, "At least then I would've been able to fix one thing right off." He whispered before capturing her lips in a hungry kiss that caught her by surprise and she reacted by pressing back just as eager as him.

When they broke they were panting and smiling as they looked at each other. Aang nuzzled his nose into her's and pressed his forehead to hers.

"We can do whatever you want, Katara." He smiled warmly and held her close, "I'll do whatever it takes to make you happy." He whispered.

Katara returned the smile and wrapped her arms around him and leaned back, pulling him on top of her. "I want you to tell me what's been going on that you've not mentioned before."

"I dunno." He spoke and pecked her lips. "It's kind of long and boring. We could be doing something way more fun and exciting in the meantime." He spoke playfully while wiggling his eyebrows in a way that made Katara laugh. This was the Aang she had been missing. While his voice was joking the dark, lustful look in his eyes made her shiver in anticipation.

Aang grinned and slowly leaned closer, giving Katara the chance to push him away. When she didn't he placed a soft and slow kiss upon her lips, defying the heavy lust evident in his features. He felt the dark-skinned beauty sigh and pull him closer, her fingers running through his hair. He shivered at the feeling and thanked the spirits for giving him the idea to grow it out again. He pressed her further into the mattress and his hands worked to undo the knot that held Katara's robe in place.

Alarm bells started going off when she felt the airbender's hands graze across her bare stomach as he pushed her robe open. Katara knew where this was going, it always went this way. They share a few words then their clothes come off and they happily grind themselves to ecstasy. She knew she had complained that sex (or whatever they were doing was called) was their relationship but it still was addicting, even though she hadn't properly gotten off in awhile.

"Aang, wait." She managed to speak when he relinquished his claim on her lips and opted for her neck. "Stop." He didn't pull away from her but he did stop assaulting her neck with his lips and tongue. Grabbing his hair she gently tugged him away from her neck and pecked him on the lips before nudging on his chest until he rolled to lay next to her. "See, this is what I meant when I said our relationship was more about sex than anything."

Aang pulled at her till she laid on his chest. "I didn't know making out counted as sex." He teased with a crooked grin. "Though I can see what you mean." He sighed and ran a hand through his girlfriends hair, "So what do you want to talk about?"

Katara turned so her chin rested on Aang's chest and raised an eyebrow at him. "You're going to give up just like that?"

It was his turn to raise an eyebrow at her. "Katara, I don't know if I even told you this but I've had my eyes for you since I first saw you. Love at first sight." He grinned and stroked Katara's blushing cheek. "Getting to know you made me fall even more in love with you. I'm not going to mess things up by forcing you to do something you don't want to." He sighed while closing his eyes and letting his head fall back into the pillows. "I'm already making you uncomfortable with how things are going, I don't want to add 'tried to force sex' to the list."

Katara opened her mouth to say something but Aang cut her off by catching her eyes in that intense gaze again.

"I hope you know that even though I like what we've been doing that I don't expect it. I'm just as happy laying here with you talking and I'm sorry that I've been too tired to do anything right. Now that I think about it that's all I really did wasn't it? 'Hi Katara, I'm finally back so let's get it on then afterwards I'll just crash and leave you unsatisfied like a selfish jerk.'" He mocked himself while rolling his eyes. "I'm a horrible boyfriend for not noticing you so uncomfortable until now."

The dark-skinned beauty laying on his chest gave him a small smile. "And I'm sorry I told you like this. I've just been so frustrated," She gave him a glare when she saw his lips twitch, "in other ways than that Aang." Making him smile at her innocently to which she rolled her eyes before continuing, "I never get to spend any time with you anymore. The only times I ever see you now is when you come to bed and if it wasn't for the fact that we share a bed then I wouldn't see you at all!"

Katara smiled sadly and drew random patterns into Aang's shirt. "I feel like I'm losing you and I hate that. They're taking you away from me." Laughing she added, "It's pretty selfish isn't it?"

Aang shook his head in disagreement. "I hate that I can't be with you 24 hours a day like we were before. It hurts to know that I have to leave you every morning when all I'd rather do is stay curled up with you and hope the world can fix it's problems on it's own." He grabbed her and pulled her up so he could bury his face into her hair and breathe in her sweet scent.

"But you can't because it's your job." Katara looked up and found his eyes closed. She glared at him for falling asleep when they were having a serious conversation but thought to how exhausting his duties must really be. Leaning up she kissed his cheek but when she started to pull away she was startled when her lips were caught by his. She felt him smirk against her mouth and slapped his chest lightly.

"You sneaky little-" Before Katara could finish her lips were captured again. Finally she succumbed to the sensations of Aang's lips moving sensually against her own. When he pulled away minutes, or hours for Katara always lost track of time when she was with him, she wasn't surprised to find him hovering over her protectively. She supposed it was the guy part of him that her brother, and quite a few others, believed didn't exist that liked being in control.

When he leaned down to place butterfly kisses along her neck she threaded her fingers in his hair and gently tugged, the unspoken signal to stop, but he didn't. She gasped when he started to suck on a particular sensitive spot and shivered when his teeth grazed across it. "Aang, stop."

When he finally did pull away Katara glared at him. "Sorry but the mark was starting to fade to nothing."

She glared at him before roughly shoving him off of her and turning on her side. "This is what I'm talking about, Aang." She snapped. "You haven't been taking our relationship seriously anymore. We were having a serious talk and you decide to darken up a hickey on my neck?"

Aang sighed, "I'm sorry. Spirits I can't do anything right anymore!" He laid on his side and hesitantly laid an arm around her waist, fully expecting her to fling it back at him but instead she didn't move. "I was trying to make you laugh." He admitted tiredly. "Laughter _is _supposed to be the best medicine right?" He chuckled to himself.

A few more minutes of silence he decided to move closer so his chest was lightly pressed against her back. "I was being serious when I said I'd do anything to make you happy and that I wished that I could stay with you 24/7." He nuzzled into the crook of her neck and felt her shiver, "I'm sorry that my attempts have failed miserably."

Aang let out a breath he didn't know he had been holding when Katara laced her fingers with his hand pressed against her stomach. She let out a small laugh at his expense. He grinned against her neck, "Success!"

Katara laughed again then they settled into a comfortable silence. "You know what?" Aang suddenly said in a cheery voice. "We should take a vacation!"

"And how do you plan on getting out of those meetings?" Katara responded in a monotone voice.

"I'll...um...figure something out..." A few more minutes of silence. "It's not that late, we can still do something. Ouch!" He yelped when Katara suddenly pinched his hand. "I didn't mean _that _I meant something else."

"Oh...sorry." Katara apologized sheepishly. "Can we just lay here for awhile? You could still use all the rest you can get. Going to bed early might prove useful."

The young airbender scoffed, "What I could use is more time with you."

"You're spending time with me right now aren't you?" Katara teased and started to play with his fingers. "What about telling me about what goes on in those war meetings that I don't partake in for some reason?"

Aang sighed, "I'm sorry about that but the rest of the council doesn't see their issues at the moment to include the water tribe. I'd still rather do something else, non-sexual." He added quickly so as not to get pinched or something else worse done to him."But I guess I can tell you _why _exactly that even I don't think you'd want to be apart of anyway."

The young Avatar then told his waterbending master of all the meetings that he has had to endure for months. Katara found it harder and harder not to laugh at the stories while also getting slightly peeved about the subjects they were arguing about.

"-and now we're debating on what type of flowers they're going to plant in the new temple's garden." He finally finished an hour later. "General Hong wants to have roses and tulips planted around it while General Fang wants panda-lillies everywhere."

Katara giggled, "Who knew that grouchy old men would care so much about flowers."

"Ugh, you have no idea. There were dozens of different ideas but after two days we finally narrowed it down to those two." Aang grumbled, "As much as I like flowers I still find it pointless to _argue _about them."

"Well, why don't you plant the main flower that represents each nation around it." She turned her head slightly so she could see him, "I mean, if they decided to make such a big deal over it then why not have it be surrounded by the flower that represents each nation."

Aang blinked in astonishment, "Why didn't I think of that earlier!" He groaned, "Wait, don't water lilies have to be close to a large water source?"

Katara shrugged, "Well it depends on how many you're going to plant. A pond will work to sustain at least a handful of lilies."

"Spirits, if only I had told you about this sooner..." He sighed again, "Well, be prepared to deal with me being tired again for the next couple days because they're not going to take to the fact that their flowers had been rejected too kindly."

She smirked at him, "Well why not bring me along? I could probably wear them down with my feminine charm."

He snorted, "You mean the same feminine charm that had gotten two pre-teens frozen to the side of a building?"

"...Maybe."

"I wish but unfortunately they'll still make a big deal over me bringing another person into the meeting room with different ideas. Plus, some of them are sexist to women being a part of major meetings." He added quietly.

"Well, they're going to have to get used to it because as soon as matters that concern the water tribe come up they better get used to seeing me there." She glared at him over her shoulder, "You better not partake in keeping me from going or you'll be sleeping on the couch mister."

He smiled warmly, "Of course not, Kat. I know better than to push your buttons about _that_."

"Good. I still don't see why you don't just put your foot down on stupid matters and get to the real issues though. _You _are the _Avatar_ what you say should go, no silly debates over pointless shit like what type of flowers to plant in front of a temple." Katara laughed, "Soon they'll be asking you what colorto paint it."

"Oh spirits don't give them _ideas_." Aang whispered urgently.

Katara raised an eyebrow, "You think they could be listening right now?"

"You never know with these people."

"Well, if they are then they're just a lot of pervy old men...and Zuko."

Aang laughed, "Zuko would probably be mortified if he heard anything we've done."

She elbowed him, "We haven't done anything too bad. Just the normal feel each other up that all teenage couples do."

He blushed, "I don't think of it as feeling you up." He mumbled, "That's just a crude understatement of what you do to me, and hopefully what I do to you."

She started to blush, "That doesn't really help at all you know."

He grinned and tugged her closer, "I meant the emotional effect. When I'm with you my heart is whole and when I touch you, spirits there is no way I can describe what you do to me. Everything is just so...complete when I'm with you." Nuzzling closer he placed a few kisses to the back of her neck, "Every time we do anything together I can't help but feeling myself fall even more in love with you."

"Don't say things like that to me Aang."

Aang blinked, hurt. "Why? I can't help the way I feel for you."

"No, I mean don't say things like that because I can't think straight when you do." Katara whispered quietly.

"I don't see how that's a problem." He whispered playfully, earning him a light elbow in the ribs.

"This is what we've been missing." She whispered back, earning a kiss right behind her ear.

"Yeah."

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><p><strong>Okay so yes I did delete my first version of this story mainly because I'm kinda thinking it's alright where it stands at the moment. I feel soooooo bad but I have like 5 other fanfiction idea's buzzing around in my head that WILL NOT LEAVE ME ALONE :( <strong>

**Anyway there is a possibility that I will return to this fanfiction sometime so if you really want me to continue writing this then don't lose hope...but also don't get your hopes up too high because like I said, it's a possibility. **


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